Override veto of gestation-crate ban

Here's one all-too-common scenario on factory farms: A sow is kept in a "gestation crate" - a cage so small she can take only one step forward or backward. She's confined there for most of her life while producing one litter of table-bound piglets after another.

"Basically, you're asking a sow to live in an airline seat," livestock expert Temple Grandin has said.

But it doesn't have to be this way.

It's hard to find people who will defend the use of gestation crates on factory farms. A recent poll of New Jersey voters found that 91 percent supported a bill phasing out the practice, which has already been banned in nine states.

And opposition isn't limited to animal lovers and activist groups; in recent years, food-industry giants including Camden-based Campbell Soup Co., Philadelphia-based Aramark, Costco and Burger King have told suppliers to find a more humane way to raise pigs. Even Hormel, the maker of Spam, has vowed to phase out gestation crates by 2017.

For once, state lawmakers of both parties united to do the right thing earlier this year, with the Assembly approving the measure to ban gestation crates by 60-5 and the state Senate passing it by 29-4.

"The proper balancing of the humane treatment of gestating pigs with the interests of farmers whose livelihood depends on their ability to properly manage their livestock best rests with the state's farming experts - the State Board (of Agriculture) and the Department (of Agriculture)," Christie wrote in his veto.

The National Pork Producers Council praised Christie for resisting pressure from animal rights groups such as the Humane Society, which has been active in the fight against gestation crates. But rather than echo the governor's call for protecting the livelihood of New Jersey farmers, the president of the pork-industry group called S-1921 "a solution in search of a problem." A statement by the group noted that "few, if any, of New Jersey's small number of hog farmers use gestation stalls."

So if Christie's veto won't have much practical value here in his home state, who is he trying to impress? Certainly not the 89 percent of New Jerseyans who said the governor should sign the bill into law.

State Sen. Raymond Lesniak, the bill's sponsor, suggested in a Times of Trenton op-ed that Christie is looking to Iowa, one of the nation's top pork producers and a key Republican battleground, in anticipation of a 2016 presidential run.

Lesniak, a Union County Democrat, is urging his colleagues to override Christie's veto. Democrats haven't had much luck in other attempts to override vetoes, but this time could be different.

This isn't merely a Democratic pet project. Indeed, consumers of all political persuasions are increasingly motivated to advocate for higher-quality food. Though opponents complain that efforts to ban gestation crates are a part of a liberal plot to eradicate meat, it's not just vegans demanding humane treatment for animals.

New Jersey's lawmakers have already stood up for mother pigs who can barely move. We urge them to take one more step to outlaw cruelty.

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Override veto of gestation-crate ban

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